I Came, I Saw, I Swapped
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| Indy Food Swap |
Funny thing about life. It happens and it happens quickly. And when it does, the first thing on your mind is blogging. Unfortunately, it is the last thing to get done. I’ll spare you a phony apology, but I will issue the heartfelt promise that it will happen again. Probably soon.
Moving right along.
I will dedicate this post to @NaptownBuzz and @MyCarDoc whose Twitter shout outs lit a bright, hot fire under my lovely lady lumps, requiring me to do something, post-haste, about this cobwebs catcher I like to call my public journal. I hear the distant call of a guest post one of these days…
…and of the grammar police telling me about that run-on sentence with too many commas I just wrote.
Plenty has happened in the past 12 months, but this is not about me playing catch-up with a blog audience of three entire humans. Instead, I need to tell you about what I did on Saturday and why it nearly made me cry.
A few weeks ago, I woke up to a tweet about a food swap. It was early, I was delirious, and so I signed up immediately. I mean, you make stuff & you trade stuff – seemed like a good concept to me. Then, by invitation from @indyrestscene, I attended a Community Dinner Party at the City Market. I won’t recount the glory of that evening, but if you’re dying to know, just read Erin’s post about it here. Suffice it to say that it was an evening filled with amazing food and great company. Serendipity decided that I’d find at my table that evening, Suzanne of @IndyFoodSwap. Little does she know she calmed my growing anxiety about my latest attempt at being normal and doing things with people I don’t know.
See, what I’m afraid to tell you is that I’m painfully shy and meeting new people gives me the kind of anxiety that burns a hole in the pit of my stomach. I’m that person who quietly sits alone in the corner at family gatherings. And I know those people.
I try so desperately to be different, but if I’ve learned anything in the first year of my 30s, it’s that I am who I am. And I am. Ok. With Me.
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| Lemon-Thyme Pound Cake |
By the day before the swap, I was in full blown “Oh $#!+” mode. I didn’t know what I would take, I knew I would only know one person, and I wasn’t sure this was such a good idea anymore. I could easily back out and give up my ticket to another deserving swapper. But, in line with the goals I set for myself a year ago, I decided to breathe it out and proceed. I am so glad that I did.
I decided on Lemon-Thyme Pound Cake, a Katie Brown recipe I’ve leaned on for quite a while. I started baking at, uh, midnight and finished packaging & labeling the mini loaves around 4am. A true labor of love. By noon the next day, we were all dressed and ready to go meet new friends and trade vittles.
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| Earth House Collective |
We gathered behind that alluring red door at Earth House. I’m convinced that magic happens when you pass through. I signed in, set up & began to quietly chat with the other swappers. As a first-timer, I made what I hope is the common mistake of trying to bid on a hot ticket item before the bidding process actually started. Oops and thanks to Brad the Beer Guy for straightening me out. Once the process did open, I got bid happy because there was just so much good stuff. And everyone took the time to add that extra dash of TLC that makes everything just that much more special. And then it happened…
The swap.
All of a sudden, the room came alive with what I can only describe as the best adrenaline rush I’ve had in quite a while. {Ok, I need to get out more, but whatever}. I don’t even know what I was doing, I just know that I left with a bunch of love-filled goodies and the happiest smile on the planet. Because this really wasn’t about the food. It was about community and coming together with a group of lovely people who are genuinely interested in knowing you and appreciative of sharing space and time with you, however brief the encounter may be. There is power in that.
The kind of power that pulls an introvert, like me, out of her shell.
The kind of power that makes you want to sign up again with 15 of your friends.
The kind of power that makes you dream about that Maple Bacon Jam you were 3.7 seconds too late to swap.
Perhaps you have to know me personally to understand how much of a release it is to my soul to meet really great people, who aren’t judging you, rating you, comparing you or otherwise making your Anxiety Meter screech to a halt at 150+ ARPMs {that’s anxiety revolutions per minute and yes, I made that up}. I went. I went alone. And I had a blast.
I suggest you learn more about Indy Food Swap and sign up for a future swap. We all want to taste that relish you make…
…You know the one.
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| June 2, 2012 – Indy Food Swappers |
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